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The University of Texas at Austin ITS Student Chapter October 2012 1

Annual Report

The University of Texas at Austin Intelligent Transportation Society of Texas

Student Chapter

For the Year of November 1, 2011 to November 1, 2012

Report Submitted By:

Michael DeGaspari Student Chapter President

718 309 3912 [email protected]

Chapter Faculty Advisor:

Dr. Zhanmin Zhang Student Chapter Advisor

512 471 4534 [email protected]

Submitted: October 17, 2012


Table of Contents

Section 1: Executive Summary ........................................................................................... 2 Section 2: Student Chapter Summary .............................................................................. 3 Section 3: Professional Development ............................................................................... 5 Section 4: Transportation Engineering Program Development ................................. 9 Section 5: Service Activities .............................................................................................. 13 Section 6: Social Activities ................................................................................................. 16 Section 7: Chapter Coordination .................................................................................... 18 Section 8: Member Awards / Publications ..................................................................... 19 Section 9: Member Roster ................................................................................................ 20


Section 1: Executive Summary

This year has yet again been successful

and eventful for The University of Texas

at Austin Intelligent Transportation

Society Student Chapter. We were

pleased to have new members join,

bringing with them more energy and new

ideas to our chapter. We are always

searching for new ways to improve our

chapter and help others, and this year was no exception. We continued some of our favorite recurring

professional activities, including attending and presenting at the ITS Texas and Transportation

Research Board Conferences, hosting Distinguished and Technical Speaker presentations, mentoring

summer transportation interns, and organizing the new graduate student orientation. Each year, we

also volunteer at the ExploreUT and Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day Events on the University of

Texas campus. At these events, we set up computers with several traffic simulation activities, which

were very successful at encouraging young people to take an interest in transportation engineering. Our

ITS members have received several awards over this time, including the Eisenhower Transportation

Fellowship, Kolodzey Travel Grant, Eno Fellowship and others. We are pleased to share all of these

activities and more with you in the following report. Enjoy!


Section 2: Student Chapter Summary Chapter Officers Serving November 1, 2011 – October 31, 2012

President: Michael DeGaspari Vice President, Activities: Christina Bernardo Vice President, Membership Coordination: Meredith Cebelak Secretary: Xiaoxia Xiong Treasurer: Christopher Fournier Advisor: Dr. Zhanmin Zhang

Chapter Officers Serving November 1, 2012 – October 31, 2013

President: William Jared Wall Vice President, Activities: Michael Kurker Vice President, Membership Coordination: Jun Deng Secretary: Juan Porras Treasurer: Rohan Shah Advisor: Dr. Zhanmin Zhang

UT Austin Chapter Membership as of October 16, 2012 Number of student chapter members: 34 Number of students in the transportation department: 47

Transportation Engineering Enrollment

There are approximately 550 enrolled students, as of April 2012, in the undergraduate Civil

Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Austin. One of our main goals as a chapter is to

encourage undergraduates to get involved in our activities by advertising many of our professional and

departmental activities through flyers and emails. This year was successful in the sense that

undergraduates participated in several of our activities including the speaker presentations as well as

the intern program.

Our Graduate Transportation Engineering Program is part of the Civil Engineering Department,

and it offers Masters of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE) and Doctor of Philosophy in

Engineering (PhD) degrees. We are very proud of our strong reputation and track record of students

who have gone on to be leaders in the public, consulting, and academic fields. Our faculty advisors are

also worthy of recognition for their continued success in transportation research and education. Our


students receive excellent backgrounds in transportation engineering, as we frequently work on

technical research projects through the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and other

noteworthy organizations. In addition to our challenging transportation curriculum, the Transportation

Engineering Program encourages all of the students to also pursue courses in the community and

regional planning, operations research, policy, and economics departments. In demonstration of our

graduate students’ devotion to professional development, we currently have three members who are

registered Professional (Civil) Engineers.


Section 3: Professional Development Our ITS chapter works exceptionally hard to offer a variety of professional development activities.

Our members participate in discussions with prominent leaders in transportation through our

distinguished speaker series, learn about transportation challenges in the technical series, expand their

speaking and networking skills at a variety of conferences (including ITS Texas), and gain practical

experience through technical projects.

Distinguished and Technical Speakers

We started our student-run Distinguished

Lecture Series for the Transportation

Engineering Program in 2005, and it has been

growing ever since. Our goal in developing

this series was to allow our students to listen

to, learn from, and interact with nationally

renowned transportation leaders from

government, industry, and academia. Lectures

were advertised campus-wide to relevant

departments, as well as to local consultants and alumni. In addition to our Distinguished Lecturers, our

ITS chapter welcomed a number of national and local transportation consultants, academics, and

industry advocates to speak to our students. These speakers expanded student knowledge of technical

and political issues, as well as provided insight into careers in transportation. In addition, recent

graduates have been introduced to their future employers through these presentations.


Our chapter hosted the following presentations:

• Christian Sax, Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., and Eric Bollich, City of Austin, Topic: City of Austin Strategic Mobility Plan June 24, 2011

• Rachel Price, Reid Middleton, Topic: Roundabouts October 19, 2011

• Elise Miller-Hooks, University of Maryland, Topic: Transportation System Resilience November 11, 2011

• Nick Wood Topic: Mileage-Based User Fees March 2, 2012

• Jared Heiner and David Huter, HNTB Corporation,

Topic: Financing Options for Engineering Projects March 23, 2012

• Cesar Queiroz, former World Bank Highways Advisor, Topic: Technical and Financial Factors for Successful Infrastructure PPP Projects October 12, 2012

• Steve Johnson and Alex Reyna, Bury + Partners, Topic: Transportation Planning for the Formula 1 Festival November 2, 2012

• Steven W. Dellenback, Southwest Research Institute, Topic: Transportation of the Future: the role of the Intelligent Vehicle November 16, 2012


Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Conference

Almost all of our ITS members attended the 2012 Transportation Research Board Annual Conference

from January 21-25, 2012. The experience was wonderful

and we were proud to represent our chapter and program

well. In total, ITS members presented research from a

total of more than 15 papers and 30 posters. In addition to

the conference, the ITS Chapter sponsored our fourth

annual UT Alumni Happy Hour at Maddy’s Bar and Grill.

The event gave us all a chance to both relax and reconnect with our alumni.

ITS Texas Annual Meeting

The attendance levels of our ITS chapter at the annual ITS Texas meeting has been very robust over

the past few years. Chapter member attendance to the 2012 ITS Texas meeting will be very high. Our

ITS chapter members are very excited to have the opportunity for professional development and

growth that the annual ITS Texas conference represents. A detailed description of 2012 conference

attendance can be found on page 18.

CTR Symposium

The CTR (Center for Transportation Research) Annual

Symposium is a yearly conference held at the University of

Texas’s UTA building just south of the main campus block.

The 2012 Symposium was held on April 4, 2012, and its

theme was “Emerging Vehicle Technology”. Speakers

included Craig Eppling, General Motors' Regional

Communications Manager, Michael Engelhardt, UT's Cockrell School of Engineering Professor, and

many others. Several students attended this symposium and had the opportunity to display their


research on posters for the symposium attendees. The students enjoyed an opportunity to chat with

other attendees of the symposium over lunch.

Other Conferences

In addition to the TRB annual meeting and the ITS Texas conferences, ITS student members traveled

across North America to attend and present papers at a number of other transportation related

conferences. These events included the Institute for Operations Research and the Management

Sciences (INFORMS) Annual Conference, October 14-17, 2012 and the Dynamic Traffic Assignment

Symposium, June 4-6 2012. Our ITS student members additionally recognized at these events for

receiving scholarships, fellowships, leadership, and paper-writing awards sponsored by these

organizations.


Section 4: Transportation Engineering Program Development The UT Austin ITS Student Chapter is very proud of our many contributions to the Transportation

Engineering Program. Not only are we making an already excellent department more exciting today,

but we know our efforts will have a lasting effect for years to come.

Promotional Materials

The Transportation Engineering Program faculty and employees, as well as our student chapters of

ITS, the Institute of Transportation Engineering (ITE), and Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS)

are engaged in a variety of educational, technical, and

social endeavors. We feel it is very important to let

not only current students and faculty know about

these endeavors, but also prospective students, past

students, and others involved and interested in the

University of Texas at Austin Transportation

Engineering Program. Two efforts we undertake to

promote this information is the creation of the

Department Fact Sheet and the annual Transportation

Research Board UT Presentation Program Schedule.

The Department Fact Sheet shares all of our

accomplishments with prospective students and potential employers. It also contains the backgrounds

of the current graduate students, as well as lists awards and scholarships, national fellowships, and

leadership programs current and past students have received or attended during the past four years.

Finally, the TRB UT Presentation Program Schedule lists authors, titles, locations, and times of each

presentation, workshop, and committee meeting given by UT faculty and students.


Biannual Newsletter

In an effort to better communicate with our department’s alumni in

order to generate continued financial and professional interest in the

program, our ITS chapter teamed up with the UT ITE chapter to

produce a twice-yearly newsletter. Sent to alumni, the newsletter details

current events in the department, including new students, ongoing social

activitites, current volunteer projects, and honors that department

memebrs receive throughout the year. Meredith Cebelak, current ITS

chapter Membership Vice President, spearheaded this effort. As a reaction, we received many updates

from program alumni about their current professional and personal activities.

Graduate Student Recruitment

Along with the faculty and staff, ITS officers help to schedule productive and memorable visits for

potential students in the Transportation Engineering Program. Both the social and academic aspects of

these visits are priorities for ITS officers, who organize group dinners, lunches, and social activities,

which allow the visiting recruit to meet as many current students as possible and have the opportunity

to discuss classes, research, and extracurricular activities with those who share their interests. Officers

also arrange campus and building tours, transportation to and from the airport, and lodging

accommodations. For potential students unable to visit in person, particularly international students,

ITS officers work with staff to identify current students with common backgrounds and interests to

communicate with recruits via email.

Undergraduate Summer Internship in Transportation (USIT)

The Undergraduate Summer Internship in Transportation (USIT) is an 11-week summer program for

undergraduates interested in transportation engineering. In some cases, our members are paired with

interns and mentor them as they work together on the same faculty appointed projects for the duration

of the program. ITS sponsors many activities with the interns over the summer, including a monthly


series of presentation luncheons. At each of these sessions, a current graduate student shares their

research with the group and the attendees engage in informal discussions about related topics. Also,

members are encouraged to attend the mid-summer and final project presentations given by the

undergraduates. We enjoy the opportunity to share our interest in transportation and help cultivate the

new generation of transportation professionals.

Map Board & Picture Board

For several years, our chapter’s officers have been responsible for maintaining the department’s “Map

Board.” This board, located on the Transportation Engineering floor of the civil engineering building,

provides biographical information and a picture for each student in the department. Each student’s

biography is attached by string to a pin located at their hometown. At the beginning of the year, this

board helps many students to learn about their new classmates, and throughout the year reminds

students, faculty members, and visitors of the diverse backgrounds of our student population. Our

chapter also maintains and updates the department’s “Picture Board”, which provides a place for

students, faculty, and staff to post pictures of exciting non-academic activities, including weddings,

births, trips, social activities, and athletic events.

New Graduate Student Orientation

In August of 2012, the Transportation Engineering Program

at UT Austin welcomed 16 new graduate students. In

addition, the department gained 8 new students in January.

ITS took an active role in welcoming the new students into

the program on both of these occasions. ITS was in charge

of organizing the week-long new student orientation social

events including a number of activities that allowed the new students to get to know other students and

learn about ITS, the Transportation Engineering Program, and the city of Austin. The orientation

included lunch at a nearby pizza parlor, dinner at a local Tex-Mex restaurant, bowling, bat watching


and a trip to a recreation center and arcade. By the end of the orientation, the new graduate students

felt much more comfortable with their new surroundings and were excited to begin the next step in

their academic lives.

Transportation Engineering Endowed Excellence Fund

This semester we began contacting alumni to ask for contributions to the newly established

Transportation Engineering Endowed Excellence Fund, a resource intended to provide support for

graduate student enrichment activities, such as conference travel and prospective student recruitment.

We felt that in this way we could help the department reach its goal of being able to provide funding

for more students to attend the TRB conference.


Section 5: Service Activities Service is an integral part of our ITS chapter. Each year we participate in a variety of volunteer

activities through the University of Texas at Austin and other organizations. We see service activities

as not only a way to give back to the community but also to expand people’s awareness of

transportation and encourage students to seek a career in transportation related fields.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day is celebrated during Engineers Week each year at the University

of Texas at Austin. On Saturday, February 25, 2012, thousands of girls in grades one through eight

arrived at the UT College of Engineering to learn about engineering through hands on activities. ITS

once again volunteered at this event by hosting an activity room to teach the girls about transportation

engineering. We shared several traffic operations simulators that were very well received by the

students. The girls learned about driving safety and basic traffic operations, as well as how

transportation engineers make transportation safer and more efficient. Our volunteers answered

questions about transportation and offered plenty of engineering pointers.

Explore UT

Explore UT, the biggest open house in Texas, provides the opportunity for Texas families to come and

explore the campus and participate in fun and educational

activities hosted by many organizations throughout

campus. UT ITS volunteered on Saturday, March 3,

2012 to run a demonstration teaching hundreds of

children and adults about the role of transportation in

everyday life. Our members used a simple traffic light

simulation that allows the player to control the operation of traffic lights. It is fun and easy enough

that people of all ages could give it a try and gain some insight about transportation engineering.


Bastrop County Fire Recovery

On Saturday, February 11th, 2012

the UT ITS and ITE chapters

partnered with the Texas A&M

ITE chapter to provide relief to a

family in Bastrop County whose

property was damaged by terrible

wild fires that occurred this past

year. This effort consisted mainly of removing stray brush and limbs of trees that had been burned in

the fires. It was a challenging sight to see the vast amount of destruction that had occurred in the area,

but everyone was encouraged after we looked at how much progress was made during our 4 hours

together. By bringing together the different student organizations and schools in this service project,

we were able to enhance not only the sense of community within the transportation field, but also to

our neighbors in their time of distress.

Kids-N-Technology STEM Summer Camp

Late this past spring, the UT ITS Student Chapter was invited to

send representatives to volunteer as part of the annual Kids-N-

Technology STEM Summer Camp during their Transportation

Week. Transportation Week (June 4 - 7) was designated to

introduce local elementary and middle school students

participating in the camp to transportation related topics and engineering applications. UT ITS

member, Mason Gemar, represented the transportation program at the event, held at Kealing Middle

School on Wednesday, June 6, giving a short presentation about transportation engineering to the kids

and helping them study bridges. The kids also got a chance to design and construct their own popsicle-


stick bridges, which were later strength tested as part of the day’s activities. Although Mr. Gemar is

not a structural engineer, he was happy to report that none of the students’ bridges failed their strength

tests!

University of Texas SEEK Program

Mason Gemar, also represented the transportation program in the University of Texas Student

Engineers Educating Kids (SEEK) program. SEEK is a student organization designated to provide

after-school mentoring and tutoring for middle school children at inner city schools in the Austin

community. The goal is to have engineering students spend time with the children and participate in

activities intended to introduce them to the engineering fields. Mr. Gemar participated as a mentor at

Dobie Middle School during both the fall and spring semesters this past school year.

Distinguished Achievement Plan

In May, three of our students (Michael DeGaspari, Mason Gemar, and Meredith Cebelak) assisted the

Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders by judging the Distinguished Achievement Plan

Projects, where students were asked to convert a community of UT apartments to solely use renewable

energy using a scale model that demonstrated solar, wind, and hydrogen fuel cell technology. The

graduate students discussed with the high school participants the need for interdisciplinary

collaboration within the STEM fields. Ann Richards’ students amazed the judges with their

understanding and practical applications of the technologies!


Section 6: Social Activities The UT Austin ITS Chapter isn’t solely about professional growth, we love to have fun too!

Something our chapter really enjoys is getting together at our social activities. We are very proud of

the sense of community among the graduate students and faculty in our department, and the social

activities are a key component of fostering this spirit.

Intramurals

UT ITS was actively involved in intramural sports during the past year. One of the goals for our ITS

student chapter is to encourage more students to get out and get some physical activity instead of

sitting and facing their computer all day. Thankfully, UT offers many excellent and extensive

intramural sports programs. Participation in these intramural teams by ITS members builds peer

networking skills as well as teamwork ethic. Our sports activities cover a large range, including soccer,

volleyball, softball, and flag football. No matter what the competition result is on the field/court,

everyone is a winner for participating in activities and having fun together!

Commuter Train Ride

Over this year’s spring break, several members of the UT ITS student chapter participated in a train

ride along Austin’s commuter rail line. At this fun event, participants traveled by train between stations

near a selection of Austin’s well-known restaurants, breweries, and shops. Those who attended enjoyed

the opportunity to socialize and check out Austin’s new commuter rail line, which had an extended

schedule to accommodate the South by Southwest Festival. This event was so successful that the

affectionately named “Choo Chew and Brew” ride is going to be repeated annually.


Potlucks

Throughout the year, ITS members have participated in

many lunches, potlucks and other gatherings. Some of

these were in celebration of special events, such as the

student Thanksgiving feast for all of those in town over

the holiday weekend. ITS members also organized

many potlucks during the year where we enjoyed

cuisine from all around the world. These are great

events for everyone to connect with each other and to welcome new interns and students.

Football Games

Our ITS members continued the tradition of forming a tailgating group to attend the University of

Texas football games. Football games are the UT way of

encouraging school spirit and having a good time. Members

cheered on the Longhorns during the whole season, and those not

interested in the games were always welcomed to the pre-game

tailgate for tasty dips and grilled favorites.


Section 7: Chapter Coordination

ITS Texas Annual Meeting

The UT ITS Student Chapter is excited to be sending nine student members to attend the 2012 ITS

Texas Annual Meeting in Dallas during October 25th through the 26th. Through financial support from

ITS Texas and the Cockrell School of Engineering, our chapter was able to fund the registration fees

for students wishing to attend this meeting and be exposed to the great variety of featured speakers and

topics. Our members appreciate being able to meet with students from other ITS Chapters, interact

with professionals in the state of Texas, and obtain real-world perspectives on topics we discuss in the

classroom during the ITS Texas conferences. We look forward to networking with ITS Texas

professional members and other ITS student chapter members in October!

UT ITS Student Resume CDs

Throughout the year we collected resumes from our members and compiled them into a Resume CD

database. The database is searchable based on students’

interests and projected graduation. We handed out the CDs

to many of the transportation professionals during

conferences, such as TRB. The Resume CD is not only

good for networking, but it also serves as an excellent means

of highlighting our accomplishments. In fact, a few of our

recent graduates connected with their current employers

through these CDs.

Communication with Other Student Organizations

Our Student Chapter enjoys working with the other ITS and ITE Chapters in Texas as well. We meet

up with them during the annual ITS Texas conference and at the annual TRB Conference. Also, we

have participated with the Texas A&M ITE chapter this semester in a joint service event.


Section 8: Member Awards / Publications We are very proud of how accomplished our ITS members are in their academic and research pursuits.

Some of our members have received regional and national honors, awards, scholarships, and

fellowships this past year and many of our members have presented and published their research at

national conferences and in reputable journals.

Member Honors and Awards

This past year, ITS student members have been recognized for their academic and research excellence

through a variety of awards and honors, including:

• Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship

• ITS Texas Scholarship

• Kolodzey Travel Grant

• WTS Scholarship

• Eno Fellowship

• Thrust Fellowship

• Advanced Institute Fellowship Presentations and Publications

Most of our ITS members have presented their research at local, regional, and national

conferences. Many of our ITS members presented at the TRB Annual Meeting this past January.

Students also presented their research at this year’s TexITE conference, INFORMS Annual Meeting

and others. Many of these presentations have gone on to become papers in a number of journals.


Section 9: Member Roster (As of October 16, 2012)

Last Name First Name

Al-‐Amin MD. Berliner Aria

Bernardo Christina

Born Kathryn

Bringardner Jack

Cebelak Meredith

Chen Donna

De Gaspari Michael Deng Jun

Fagnant Dan

Fournier Chris

Gemar Mason

Hakimi Shadi Han Zhe

Higgins Sam

Khan Mubassira

Kurker Michael Li Chen

Liu Ruoyu

Long Kan

Martinez Sergio

Melson Christopher

Motamed Moggan

Necessary Mallory

Nichols Brice

Porras Juan Peters Diniece

Pool Matt

Rambha Tarun

Reiter Matthew

Serigos Pedro

Shah Rohan

Venkatraman Ravi Wall W. Jared

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